· August, 2008

Stories about Freedom of Speech from August, 2008

Brazil: I want to live in Second Life

  28 August 2008

Wanderley Filho [pt] compares, ironically, Brazilian politicians achievements to life on Second Life: a parallel world. “The election air time on TV is a balm to comfort those citizens who imagined that their past elected governments had not done any work for the past 4 years. In a few minutes...

Angola: Media shut up – again?

  28 August 2008

Eugénio Costa Almeida [pt] is again puzzled by the disappearence of another news portal in Angola, Correio Digital, which displays a “temporarily suspended” error: “What is going on? And this is the second time this happens in a few months. It's an eventual effect of this independent news portal's too...

Bahrain: Bloggers are Trouble

Bahraini blogger and administrator of the locally banned Bahrainonline [Ar] online forum Ali Abdelemam posts an interview with him in an LA newspaper – on blogging and the how authorities view bloggers as trouble.

Cuba: Punk Rocker Arrested

  27 August 2008

As several bloggers voice their outrage at the arrest of Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila, Havana-based Generation Y claims: “They took him because nothing destabilizes the intransigents more than a man in his most free state.”

Barbados, Cuba: Broadcasting Meeting

  27 August 2008

Bajan Global Report reports on the Prime Minister's trip to Cuba to attend the 39th General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, an organization which supports and promotes high quality work of regional radio and TV entities – but Barbados Free Press calls it “irony defined”: “We are disappointed that...

China: Cop Killer's Case

  27 August 2008

The Shanghai Cop killer's or Yang Jia case was on court on yesterday (26 of Aug). Both Shanghai citizens and reporters were not allowed to attend the trial as all the seats were booked by local police. Liu Xiaoyuan pointed out that such kind of arrangement is de facto secret...

Brazil: Church demands justice do ban sexy pic on Playboy

  26 August 2008

Milton Ribeiro [pt] reports that the Brazilian Justice has banned a photo in August edition of Playboy, after complains from the Catholic Church because the model was holding a crucifix. “After all, the Catholic Church, who owns the fetish, felt offended and it is now going after the girl and...

Guyana: Reporter Fired?

  26 August 2008

Living Guyana says that a journalist has allegedly been fired for writing a less-than-glowing account of the Carifesta Opening Ceremony, which Signifyin’ Guyana agrees the reporter correctly described as “disappointing”.

China: Photos from inside Tibetan Skynet control room

  26 August 2008

Famed she is, though definitely not for her blogging, which is too bad, because there's no doubt that a lot of people would be interested to see the control-room photos and series of Chinese-language sources that Tibetan writer Woeser has just posted which show just how close of an electronic...

China: Cop-killer online hero case goes on trial

  26 August 2008

Yang Jia's case goes to trial today, after having been postponed for the Olympics. Previously he had been harmonized after having been heroized by many online for walking into a police station in Shanghai last month and killing six cops after what was accepted was an earlier case of injustice...

Palestine: A New Blogging Revolution

Blogger Times, a blogging magazine written by Arab bloggers, covering new developments and current issues within the Arab blogging world, has published a new story called Blogging.. a Palestinian revolution.” How is the blogging scene in Palestine and what should bloggers focus on?

Russia: Rally at Red Square

  24 August 2008

Photos and video of seven activists holding a rally at Red Square in Moscow on Aug. 24 – “For your and our freedom” – in commemoration of the protest against the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (posted by LJ user moscow_river_25 in the legal_team LJ community).

Egypt: Blogger Detained

Elijah Zarwan, from Egypt, draws our attention to yet another blogger detained. “Mohammed Refaat, a student and a blogger, was detained on July 21 on charges of ‘threatening public security’ by using the Internet to call for a strike on July 23… I took a quick look at Refaat’s blog...

Bahamas, Cuba: Inconvenient Truths?

  22 August 2008

“The Bahamas standard of living reflects the effect of free trade and a relatively limited government. Citizens here are still far better off than in many countries in the region and the world. However, every now and then The Bahama Journal editorialises about the virtues of Cuba. And frankly this...